


You By My Side

by Eliza



Category: DBSK, TVXQ
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2007-02-17
Updated: 2007-02-17
Packaged: 2017-10-11 12:22:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/112365
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Eliza/pseuds/Eliza
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Moving to a new country doesn't have to mean leaving home.</p>
            </blockquote>





	You By My Side

**Author's Note:**

> Encouraged, betaed and titled by Rana.

Changmin tries not to show it, but he's really excited about moving away from home. To Japan.

They've been there so much in the past six months it will be good to get out of the hotels and into a place where they can put their own pictures on the walls. The rest are at best resigned to the fact. Jaejoong and Yunho are already starting to miss their families, judging by the number of phone calls they've been making. Junsu's being stoic, saying that it's part of the business; Changmin thinks it's a front, but for what exactly, he can't quite put his finger on. Yoochun is worried, that's very clear. He's just starting to get comfortable with the Korean media when this gets tossed at him. Everyone knows languages are not his gift and Japanese seems to give him particular trouble. With this undercurrent of tension, Changmin is doing his best to keep his high spirits to himself. As much as he ever could.

Once the announcement is made, things start to come together for him, and not just the language lessons. It's as if this move makes everything make sense. His confidence increases, his focus sharpens, he starts to watch the way Yunho and Junsu handle interviews and tries not to let Jaejoong draw him into compromising situations. Although Jaejoong is impossible to resist, moreso with Yoochun's conspiratorial smile lurking nearby. But he tries!

His mother catches this shift in his attitude during the time he spends with his family before the move. He doesn't want her to know how much he wants this; he doesn't want her to think he won't miss them. But he should have guessed that she'd understand. She's understood everything else that's gone on since he won the audition.

"This is just another step, Changmin-ah," she says, as they do the dishes one evening. Then she looks at him from the corner of her eye. "I think after the past four years, we are prepared not to expect you for dinner every week."

He's about to protest that he wasn't there every week, but he spots her teasing smile and returns it with his own. They'll be fine. A phone call, emails, a couple of hours on a plane if necessary, is all that's required to bridge the distance. Really hardly any distance at all. Just enough, is the way Changmin's feeling about it. Enough to make him stand on his own.

His mom asks him if he wants her at the airport to see them off. He says no. She comes anyway. Just her, not with his sisters in tow; Changmin said goodbye to them earlier.

"What kind of mother would let her son leave home without packing him a lunch?" she says, in response to his question about why she came. She hands him a small brown paper bag, and a peek inside shows it to be full of all his favourite snacks. All the things she wouldn't let him eat when he lived at home.

"It will spoil my appetite," he says, letting her know that he remembers. Her laughter is a little loud, and she covers her mouth and leans her head on his shoulder to hide her embarrassment. "I love you, Mom," he says, against her hair.

"I love you, too, Changmin. And I'm very proud of you." She stands up again, her eyes shining more than ususal. "I'm leaving before I start to cry. You should go rescue Yoochun from Mrs. Kim. He's looking a little damp around the edges."

They part quickly, Changmin feeling the press of tears himself for the first time. That's why he hadn't wanted her to come, but with all of the other families here, and Yoochun being pulled between both Kim households, Changmin had been feeling a little...lonely. The sight of her walking in the door to the lounge made him glad that she only does what he wants when she wants to.

"Whatcha got?" Yoochun says, falling into the seat beside him.

Changmin hears a faint sniff, his mother was right about Yoochun getting emotional, but she falls into the same trap as everyone else in thinking Yoochun would appreciate being "rescued" from any situation that caused it. Changmin opens the bag for Yoochun to see inside. "Oh, I love your mom," Yoochun says, his hand clenched to keep from reaching inside.

"You can have it," Changmin says with a dramatic sigh.

"What?" Yoochun says, playing innocent with skill.

"The chocolate."

Yoochun considers the offer, and then says, "Save it for the plane."

"It might be gone by the time we're on the plane." Changmin shakes the bag.

"In that case...." Yoochun grins wide, and fishes out the small box.

"Whatcha got?" Junsu says, draping himself over Changmin's other shoulder, craning his neck to see in the bag.

"Changmin's mom brought goodies," Yoochun says, focused on getting at his treat.

"Your mom's so cool."

"Have you even met my mom?" Changmin asks, keeping the bag just out of Junsu's reach.

"Of course I've met your mom! What kind of thing is that to say? Yoochun, did you hear that?"

Yoochun nods, but otherwise is non-committal, the chocolate doing wonders for his personality. Then the bag is snatched away.

"What's this?" Jaejoong says, from behind them in the next row of seats. "Junsu, this is for you."  
He tosses a bottle back at a startled Junsu.

"Your mom's tonic? I can't take this on the plane."

"I told her that." Jaejoong's thoroughly distracted while rifling through the bag of snacks. "She said drink it now. Can I have this?"

"Drink it now? I'll be pissing the whole trip."

"Yeah," Changmin answers, acting more put out than he is. It's a very sweet gummy candy that he liked as a kid, but has since lost a taste for. Just perfect for Jaejoong. Changmin takes the rest of the bag back, then turns to Junsu. "It's going to end up down the toilet at some time or another. It's up to you to decide when."

Junsu blinks at him as Yoochun laughs silently, Changmin feeling the tell-tale movement against his shoulder. Then Yoochun leans around to say to Junsu, "That means...."

"I know what it means," Junsu sneers, poking his tongue out at Yoochun.

"What's going on?" Yunho says, from the row of seats behind them.

"Changmin's mom loves her son best," Jaejoong says. "She brought him food. Want some?"

"That's not food. That's disgusting."

Yoochun holds the box of chocolate discs over his head in invitation. "Hey!" he says, hugging the box back to his chest as he turns to glare at Yunho. "One! Your mother leaves and she takes your manners with her?"

"Obviously," Jaejoong snorts. "He said my treat was disgusting."

"It is disgusting," Changmin says, turning to grin over his shoulder. Jaejoong shows off his bright orange tongue.

"Why'd your mom pack it then?" Junsu asks.

"I liked it when I was five."

"Oh," says the chorus, with complete understanding.

"You can all fuck off," Jaejoong says sweetly.

Yunho settles in to the seat behind Yoochun as Changmin opens the bag of yam crisps. He offers some to Yunho, who makes a point of taking just one. Changmin grins and places the bag in the hollow created by the backs of the four seats. Beside him, Junsu gives a deep sigh. At first Changmin thinks it's because he hasn't shared in the treat bag, but his expression shows something else.

"Junsu?" Yoochun says, leaning around to look at his best friend again, and Changmin can feel Jaejoong shift in his seat to do the same.

"We're really going, aren't we," Junsu says.

"Airport, passports, long tearful goodbyes--I think we're going," Yoochun says, smiling. Like he means it.

"Going," Jaejoong sighs behind him, and he sounds...happy. Changmin glances over at Yunho, who has his own little grin pulling at the corners of his mouth. When he turns back to look at Junsu, the smile that greets him makes him sit back.

Yoochun laughs. "Turn it down, Junsu, you're blinding Changmin. Come over here and share my chocolate."

"I don't like chocolate," Junsu says, dribbling an imaginary soccer ball as he moves to his new seat on Yoochun's other side.

"Yes, you do."

"Do not tell me what I do and do not like."

Changmin turns around to share his amusement and sees Jaejoong's and Yunho's hands on the arm rest between them. Jaejoong is tapping the ring on his right hand against the matching one on Yunho's left.

"It might stay like that, you know," Yunho says quietly. "Nobody will want to kiss you with a tongue that colour."

"I wouldn't want to kiss anyone who wouldn't kiss me with a tongue this colour. Changmin--"

"I'm not kissing you no matter what colour your tongue is."

"That wasn't what I was going to say."

"Yes, it was."

"You don't know what I'm going to say!"

"Yes, I do. I know everything."

The chorus nods.

"I hate you all." Jaejoong huffs down into his seat, and Changmin slides another package of gummy candies over Jaejoong's shoulder. Purple ones this time. Jaejoong picks them up off of his lap and holds them up, a questioning lift to the corners of his mouth and his eyes.

Yunho eyes the candy speculatively, and says, "Maybe."

Yoochun collapses into giggles onto Changmin's shoulder. The shift of Jaejoong's expression from an indulgent smile at Yoochun's laughter to faux surprise as he looks up, turns Changmin's attention to Junsu just in time to see three of the chocolate discs disappear into his cheeks.

As Yoochun gets himself together, Changmin reaches under the empty chair beside him. "Here, healthy boy," he says, picking up the forgotten bottle. "You'd better not forget to drink your tonic."

Junsu glares at him, with a closed mouth and wide eyes, but takes the bottle. Jaejoong hides his grin under cover of popping another candy in his mouth, while Yunho frowns in confusion and pokes at the back of Jaejoong's hand. Yoochun's smile fades as his eyes narrow. He looks in the box, then closely at Junsu.

"Open your mouth."

Junsu closes his eyes tight for a second, and fights a smile as he shakes his head.

"How many?" Yoochun asks, looking at Changmin and Jaejoong. Changmin holds up two fingers, Jaejoong forcibly uncurls a third. "Three!"

"I like a mouthful." Junsu says. Sort of.

"Then why are you with Yoochun?" Jaejoong asks, before jumping out of his seat to avoid Yoochun's fists.

"Careful!" Yunho says, and everyone freezes as he removes the crisps from any chance of being crushed. "Okay. You may kill him now."

"'Kill him now?' Not even the façade of a defence?"

"Façade? The next time you put on a dress and heels, I'll play your knight in shining armour."

"Oh. Hyung," Changmin says, hiding his laughter behind his hands and a despondent tone. "That was more than I ever--EVER--wanted to know." He looks over from between his fingers to see Junsu turning an interesting shade of purple. "You choking on the chocolate, Junsu?"

Junsu looks up and shakes his head, but there are tears wetting his eyelashes.

"This is what you get for being greedy," Yoochun says, distracted from his revenge on Jaejoong by the opportunity to get some on Junsu. But then he looks up across the room, and most of the expression drops from his face. "Crap. Looks like it's back to work."

All of them turn to see their manager motioning them toward the exit that will lead to security and the gate. There's disappointment at having to put the game face back on, but there's also anticipation. It's finally starting. In a few hours, they'll be calling another country home.

A small sigh from Junsu brings Changmin's attention back to him, and they all react to see him gulping down the tonic. "Junsu, you're going to be sick," Yoochun says, half reaching for the bottle.

Junsu finishes the tonic with a sigh and wipes his mouth with the back of his hand. "Make sure you sit on the aisle," he says to Yoochun.

"Me? You're the one who--"

"I hate the aisle. You sit on the aisle, so I don't have to bug anybody."

Yoochun just blinks, open-mouthed, and follows a step behind as Junsu heads to the gate. Yunho keeps pace with Junsu, and Jaejoong tosses his arm around Yoochun's shoulders. "There's an English word for this, isn't there?" Jaejoong says quietly, tenderly, into Yoochun's ear. "Hen...bit?"

"Fuck off, Jaejoong," Yoochun says, just as low and sweet. "Or I may be asking to borrow your princess pumps."

Changmin continues to smile, half at the whispered conversation going on in front of him, and half with the relief of being able to be happy. They are all starting this adventure. Together. The most important part of home is coming with them.


End file.
